The (Very) Occasional Blog @vennsync - Tumblr Blog

I think like. The thing I keep coming back to about the Murderbot show is that I cannot remember ever seeing another tv show give an “Oh” moment to platonic love.

But my god, when Murderbot shows Mensah Sanctuary Moon to help with her panic attack. You see her look at it, and you see her realize…

Yes, she has been thinking of Murderbot as a person, that’s why she went back for it at the DeltFall habitat. But it’s all been very theoretical—the way you might help a stranger up if they fall, but that doesn’t mean you want to get to know them. It doesn’t mean you’ve reckoned with their interiority.

But as Murderbot murmurs, “Breathe, breathe, breathe the crystal light” to itself, you see it all click into place for Ayda Mensah.

This terror she’s experiencing? All-consuming and confusing and soul-crushing? SecUnit has felt this. And it had to face it alone—not just in the sense that there has never been anyone to offer it comfort, but in the sense that no one even thought that it—it as an entity, it as a being capable of fear—exists.

So it found this show. And Mensah has been so pissed at it for potentially getting them all killed because it thought a stupid fucking soap opera mattered, but oh, oh, oh fuck, this show is the only thing in the universe that has ever given it comfort. This show has offered it context and escapism and asked for nothing in return. It absolutely is critical matériel.

And that brings her to now, to herself, to herself and Murderbot. This person next to her, who she is technically in possession of, who has had to claw and scrape for even a thimbleful of peace, who was only able to protect that peace by never ever ever letting anyone know it existed. She and her team have ripped away its impossibly precious privacy, exposed its secrets… and here it is handing her part of its soul anyway, because in this moment she needs it.

Because it knows what it’s like to be scared and alone, and does not want her to feel that way.

And so she falls in love, and you get to watch it happen.

My ace ass has a lot of messy feelings about love and the way it appears on screen. Few things have hit me as hard as getting to witness the exact moment Dr. Ayda Mensah’s soul met Murderbot’s and decided it was home.

skygemspeaks

One thing that's really refreshing about iseshachi is that we don't get any of the usual denial

Sei is very aware of aresh's feelings towards him, and he's not saying no, he's just saying "i'm in the middle of saving your country right now, i don't have time for this. Give me a couple of months"

Also, i love that aresh is very open about the fact he has feelings, instead of just trying to pretend he's only doing his duty.

#the other world's books depend on the bean counter #isekai office worker #kondou seiichirou #aresh indolark #yes and I also appreciate that so far #there has not been a lot of homophobia in the series outside of some references to the attraction being unusually intense #and that is mostly related to the fact that they just met

moonlight-at-dawn

This was too ambitious for me lmao, I don't know how to color water like this, there's so many decorative screentones, I started this last night and finished it today, it took. So long. And I'm only moderately satisfied lmao. But i think i learned some things so I'll call it a win

Still can't believe the anime robbed us of this scene 😭 GIVE IT TO US YOU COWARDS

#isekai office worker #why yes this scene is canon #I mean. knights. office drama. intrigue. magic. gayness. what more can you ask for.#am greatly enjoying watching the anime #the other world's books depend on the bean counter #isekai no sata wa shachiku shidai

devinellekurtz

My very first tiger drawing and my latest

enthyrea

but do you forgive me?

destiny-islanders

gawrsh

spankerella

Just a little pick-me-up.

scoriarose

Theory on why Tofu hates Markiplier

If you are unfamiliar with Tofu, please read this post or watch this playlist about the snake who hates Markiplier. tl;dr- under the Markiplier gif.

From the videos you can see she tries to figure out what is upsetting Tofu, and found that it's not just streamers, or just his voice, or the stream. This specific snake

He does not like Markiplier specifically which is demonstrated by him squaring up with Mark, striking, and tail buzzing at him. He recognizes Mark specifically as a scary threat.

Animals have been shown to recognize human faces, and Tofu's reaction to Markiplier's face (and only his face as shown by the printout) is strong evidence that he recognizes Mark's face and differentiates him from other faces. With crows, they've been shown to hold grudges and have that grudge extend to other crows.

So Tofu has a negative association with Mark, and specifically Mark. The question is why? My theory is: perceived threat after a perceived dangerous situation. Some have theorized Tofu was mistreated by someone who looked like Mark- if they were while in his keeper's care she'd know. If it was his breeder, he'd more likely be afraid of all humans and need to first get over this negative perception (basing this on how Sakura reacted with massive trauma that took years for her to overcome, and to this day she's still jumpy. A breeder doesn't socialize their snakes so they'd only know humans to be abusive before being adopted, and his current keeper would very much notice that terrified trauma behavior to herself.)

One thing important to know about snakes is they are not only capable of learning from each other, but are protective of each other. I've seen this with my girls interacting with each other (yes snakes have friends and remember their family), learning from watching the other and copying her actions, as well as behavior I've observed on the Rattlecam with wild snakes. Adult snakes teach younger snakes, as well as are protective of them- even if they aren't their own babies. A female was shown on the rattlecam watching over a group of slitherlings that were obviously not her offspring as she was heavily pregnant. IIRC that same female ushered babies to safety after a hawk attack before worrying about her own safety. I've seen it in person as well with my girls, who have shielded each other from perceived danger, and scoria also squared up to something scary in the hall as though she were protecting me. And when it left she immediately went back to being relaxed and cuddly and happy. Snakes have friends that are snakes. It's an outdated belief snakes cannot bond with their keepers, as many do and seek them out for attention. These observations of snake behavior are part of what play into my theory basis.

So what could Mark himself have done? If you watch streamers you'll know Markiplier is known for playing jumpscare games with his FNAF let's plays being some of his most well known. Tofu's owner knows Markiplier, and is actively watching Markiplier with Tofu. More than likely she regularly watches Mark, has watched jumpscare videos, and had Tofu around while doing this.

It's a reasonable assumption. And if Tofu's keeper reacts to Mark's jump scare videos by flinching, looking frightened, or making frightened sounds, it's quite likely Tofu's sees Markiplier is involved every time... and blames Mark. Seeing his keeper get startled, Tofu doesn't understand it's a fun video or that humans enjoy being jumpscared (honestly I don't think I could explain it to him either) so he's learning from his human that Markiplier is a scary threat.

And from Tofu's point of view? He's right! Markiplier is a regular threat that not only (probably) scared his human, but regularly appears to stare him down and even went after him in his own home! And when his keeper scolds him? It's likely the same misunderstanding that dogs have when their owners yell at them to be quiet- they think the human has joined in! Clearly his keeper is joining him in being upset at Mark!

So in Tofu's mind? Mark is a diabolical threat to his family's safety that he must defend them against, and they are united with their keeper in their efforts to drive away that scary scary guy. You are very brave Tofu, and we are all very proud of you.

#animal behavior #fascinating #operant conditioning

enthyrea

patron saints of one way trips

snow124-art

Too much of soundtrack to third Pirates of the Caribbean do things to me………………

edgebug

happy 20 year anniversary of Neil banging out the tunes!

though every rat is special, it's a wonderful and unusual thing for their accomplishments to be remembered and cherished by so many people so many years later. we're all so fortunate to know about the rat who banged out the tunes!

thank you to all the people who sent me reference photos of their beloved rats for this piece!!! credits under the cut!

roxiefandoggoreblogs

YES, YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT DISCORD'S AGE VERIFICATION

But while cancelling Nitro and boycotting Discord CAN be a form of protest, it sadly may not be effective. Why? Bc their hands are tied due to the recent trend in age verification bills worldwide.

All of the bad internet bills. One website.

This site helps send emails to your lawmakers to oppose certain Internet bills in the US, many of which would push age verification if passed HOWEVER, calling your lawmakers on the phone is most effective. If you're not in the US, you can still help by spreading the word. The only way to prevent age verification (On Discord and ALL other social media platforms) is to prevent the bills that are forcing it. Look at the site for more info

daysleftofsecondterm

Come on freaks let’s move

amaditalks

While there have been age verification laws put in place in other countries, in the US there are currently such laws in only three states, and I believe one is not in fact while there are appeals and lawsuits going on.

Discord is obeying in advance, which is the worst thing to do when dealing with encroaching authoritarianism.

And yes, age verification laws are a form of authoritarianism, using the power of government to quash free expression under a pretext, in this case the pretext of protecting children.

They have already started walking back the impact of their new rule and how it will be implemented, and that is a direct response to how many people have let them know that it's not OK. You have to keep doing that in addition to talking to your lawmakers about why age verification schemes are inherently dangerous without actually providing the claimed benefit, and that if children need to be protected from online content, that's the job of parents.

toasthaste

been wild seeing this wave of people rewatching steven universe and realizing all the various discourses were silly and it has always been an extremely good show. Being a fogey I was old enough when it came out that I was sufficiently settled/secure in my tastes that I never stopped knowing this, but I never really thought about how it'd have been for like, y'know, the show's target demographic. like heck, yeah, if you first watched the show when you were 12 or something of course you don't know that it actually holds up and most of the people shitting on it were ridiculous or kids themselves! 12 year olds like all kinds of stuff that doesn't hold up after they're a bit older!

I need to rewatch it. and actually finish the series this time. the fucked up scheduling screwed it up for me at the time and i never got around to it and then suddenly years had passed....

siggimagenta

What a silly little guy. I miss his frog jumping so much.

sleepnoises

i want to do a painting of a tiger taking a bath to put in a bathroom (bathroom-themed bathroom) and to this end i made a little maquette out of clay and i suspect this will scope creep into having both a painting and sculpture of a tiger or perhaps only a sculpture of a tiger. if i do both should they be displayed together or separately

sleepnoises

Tiger maquette by the way 🐅

sleepnoises

Working on cutting out a large piece of wood to do the painting on, which is a constraint that will either be really fun or really annoying. Maybe both

sleepnoises

Wood primed and underpainted and sketch transferred mostly by cutting it out in different chunks and tracing around them. Stripes to be determined. Nobody let me work on this again for at least two weeks

sleepnoises